The Ceres City Council took action on Monday to appropriate matching funds to augment unexpected federal funds for five new transportation projects in Ceres.

The council was also asked for an early allocation of $300,000 of gas tax revenues for a slurry seal street overlays. The city slurry sealed a number of city streets the last fiscal year and learned that they could get the next job cheaper if they got bids in February or March rather than waiting for summer when contractors are busier and less competitive.

Slurry seal is a thin maintenance treatment of asphalt emulsion, graded aggregates and a mineral filler. When placed on existing pavement, the mixture cures to create a new wearing surface for the roads.

The city was awarded $102,714 to fund the design of two new projects - the fourth phase of the Mitchell Road overlay, and the second phase of the Service Road overlay. The city had to come up with $11,782 of matching local dollars. The funds come in the form of Regional Surface Transportation Program.

The city has not actually secured funding for the road work itself.

The Mitchell overlay will start at Roeding Road and end short of Service Road and will be the final in a series of Mitchell Road overlays.

The Service Road overlay will begin at Central Avenue and run to Blaker Road.

In addition, the city was victorious in snagging $1.196 million for two projects. The two projects are safe route to school projects. The first will spend $373,000 on improvements to allow for safer pedestrian travel to schools on Don Pedro Road and Nadine Avenue. Crosswalk installation, sidewalk completion, wheelchair ramps and lighted crosswalks will be the focus of the project.

The second will allocate $823,000 for Hackett and Kinser pedestrian corridors. Besides filling in gaps to complete sidewalks, the project calls for sidewalk bulb outs, raised sidewalks, crosswalks, pavement markings and flashing beacons for traffic awareness and traffic calming.